Ep. 4. The Long Game: 25 Years of Building Something That Lasts

Ian O’Hearn became the MIHS Head Coach in 2001, thinking it might be a pit stop. Twenty-five years later, he’s the winningest lacrosse coach in Washington State history and architect of the largest youth program in the state.

This conversation is about what it actually takes to build something that lasts: 

--the NY high school program that shaped his philosophy

--the loss that made him realize he was made to coach

--how he met his wife

--why he’s pushed multi-sport athletes for 25 years

--how a preschool-to-varsity pipeline is the foundation of the team's competitive advantage, and 

--what parents consistently get wrong on the sideline and in the college recruiting process.

Loyalty. Tradition. Discipline. It’s not just a slogan. It’s 25 years of deliberate work — and this is the story of how it got built.

Transcript

0:03

Welcome to the Long Game, a podcast about youth sports development and how programs like Mercer Island Lacrosse build champions on and off the field. I'm your host, Matt Cooper.

Matt 0:19

There are lots of good teams in youth sports. Building one is hard, but sustaining a program. Keeping the standard high year after year, class after class, decade after decade is something entirely different. Very few people have done it, and today we hear from one. Ian O'Hern became the program director and head coach of Mercer Island Lacrosse Club 25 years ago. Since then, he's become the winningest lacrosse coach in Washington state history. But more importantly, he's focused on our core values of loyalty, tradition, and discipline to build something deeply meaningful to the hundreds of kids and families who've come through the program. This conversation today is about what that actually takes. Ian, welcome.

Ian 0:58

Thanks for having me.

Matt 0:59

Take us back to 2001 just before you came out to Mercer Island and describe what your life was like just before you heard about this job.

Ian 1:10

I from outside of Albany, New York, and I went to the University of Albany for college. And then when I finished there, I went to Germany for six months to coach which was great. I got to travel around Europe and play and coach in different countries. And from Germany, I went straight down to Perth, Australia. Spent six months down there coaching youth and and playing on one of their men's teams. really loved Australia. Could easily see myself living there and didn't really wanna leave, but had some things I had to get back for and flew home and landed at 8:00 AM on September 11th 2001. And obviously the whole world changed at that point. So I was living in Atlanta for six months. I had one of my sisters lived there, so I spent six months there and really wanted to get up to the northwest. And applied for some different high school jobs up here. And one of the positions I applied for was already filled, but the president of that booster club knew Mark Larson really well, and they were looking for a coach. Mark flew me out for an interview. I think this was like October right after nine 11. just absolutely loved it. the entire trip out here, it was just, it just felt like home felt way more comfortable than, definitely Atlanta. they hired me after a pretty long interview process and I drove out in that following February and been here ever since. February. season, right? Yeah. Like maybe three weeks before the season started

Matt 2:37

on your trip out here, we heard mark, talk little bit about it. You stayed with. The Larsons.

Ian 2:41

I did, yeah.

Matt 2:43

And I think you've told me uh, you went out to eat at the Roanoke. It was your first trip to the Roanoke Inn on Mercer Island.

Ian 2:48

That's where they had me sign my contract. So that was my first experience with the Roanoke, which is a staple amongst the Mercer Island coaching. World. But when I was staying with him one of the days, he just gave me one of his cars and said, go explore Seattle. And that's, I think, where I fell in love with Seattle. I just, it was like a, fall day and just getting to see the culture here in the northwest and I that kind of sold it for me.

Matt 3:12

And when you first arrived, did you see this job as as a pit stop on the way to something else? And if so, when did it begin to be something more for you?

Ian 3:23

I think I did see it as a pit stop. I, ultimately had wanted to get up to Vancouver and, I thought maybe I'd be here for another six months or a year. But then just after being here for one year, I met my now wife a huge, friend community with the men's league club team that I played for, which I'm still friends with all those guys 25 years later. And then obviously the coaching bug really took over and, yeah, one year turned into two, turned into three, turned into 25.

Matt 3:51

Let's talk a little bit more about meeting your wife. How specifically did that come about?

Ian 3:57

Like I said, I moved here in February of oh two and spent a couple weeks with one of the families in the program while I was looking for a place to stay. So I was just trying to find a room to rent on the island so that I could be really close to the high school for the first season. I found a room on a house right on West Mercer and there was two girls right outta college there and one of their friends, and they had an extra room and I moved in and I was so busy that first year I didn't really talk to them a whole lot, just in and out. And then towards the end of my six months in that, rental situation. Started hanging out with one of the girls a little more and went to see some concerts together and then started dating and yeah, she's now my wife and two daughters later. She grew up in, she's from Alaska, born in Alaska, grew up in Kirkland, went to Lakeside, and so she has tons and tons of family in this area.

Matt 4:48

that's a great story. Uh, Describe the program and how the program looked when you stepped into it that first season the program you inherited,

Ian 4:55

It was just a totally different world back then. There was, we have about 90 high school programs in the state right now, boys programs. And back then there was like 16, maybe 17. So there was a high school program. There's about 30 something kids in the high school program. And it was a good team, relative to what the league was back then. They had just won their first state championship the year before. But it was more of a alternative sport, the ones that like, maybe the skateboarders or, just kind of kids that didn't wanna play the more traditional sports, wanted to try something new, would play lacrosse. But there, there was a lot of good athletes on that team and the teams before I took over. So the high school program was about 30 kids, and then there was a middle school program that was about, I think it was like 25, 26 kids. That was the seventh, eighth grade teams that had sixth graders on it because there was no fifth, sixth in the state yet. But the hard part of that was the youth program back then was a different organization and it was run by different parents. So the first thing we did the following year was take over that youth program and combine it with the high school program. 'cause that's the obvious, progression to, to build the program is have it all under one one umbrella.

Matt 6:01

Final question on this. Was there any early moment a game, a kid, a conversation that made you realize that this program could be something pretty special?

Ian 6:12

That's a hard one. I dunno if this directly answers that. I remember one of my first losses ever as a coach was against Lakeside. And we were supposed to win. We should have won. It was a bad game. And I took that loss harder than I took any loss I ever took as a player. And that's where I think I really understood that I was passionate about coaching. And from there that I, that's probably when I really started to look towards, what do we do next to build the program stronger and make sure that never happens again.

Matt 6:42

Was that in the first season, your first season?

Ian 6:44

It might've been the second season. It was the first or second, but it was, I just remember going home and just being so upset about the loss and having never felt like that after a loss. I was a competitive person as a player and didn't like losing for sure. But, I was way more upset as a coach to lose because I guess maybe I, couldn't go out on the field and do what I wanted to do as a player and just put you in a different situation.

Matt 7:08

Yeah. I was gonna ask, does that surprise you given you played at a high level division one at the University of Albany. did it surprise you when you took a loss harder as a coach than as a player?

Ian 7:18

Yeah. Yeah, it did. 'cause it was the first time that, that I'd felt that way. And I've definitely felt that way since. again, I think that's just where it clicked for me, that coaching might be something that I'm really passionate about. Describe the

Matt 7:30

culture of this program to someone who's never seen it up close?

Ian 7:34

it's all about the culture. Our program is all about the community that we've built from kindergarten through 12th grade amongst current players and parents and coaches. And the alumni that we've had for the last, 25 th and even before I was here, there's still a lot of alumni that didn't play for me, that are still involved and follow the program. So I guess I would just explain that there, it's just our program's all about the culture and the community

Matt 7:59

And where did the tagline that we now see on lots of places around the club, loyalty, tradition, discipline come from, was that always the frame or did it emerge over time?

Ian 8:08

I think that came around maybe 10 or 12 years ago, and I think the captains just wanted to try something different where they they come up with some. Motto to run the program by run the varsity by that specific year. And then we adopted it for the whole program and we all sat down and we discussed it for a while. And what are the three things that really encompass what we're trying to teach as a program? loyalty is team first. It's loyalty to your teammates, loyalty to your friends, loyalty to your town. And then the tradition is, that's part of the culture. All these different traditions that we have from kindergarten through 12th grade create some of the culture and the discipline is just attention to detail. We're a very structured program. Our varsity is very disciplined and we really emphasize controlling what we can control and. not making our own mistakes and minimizing forced turnovers in games is what ultimately leads to long-term success.

Matt 9:06

One of the things that Mark and Evan and Kiernan, they've each talked about kind of what you just said about how important the culture is. And one of the focuses of this podcast is how deliberate a coaching staff has to be to build a particular type of culture. Is there, as you think back, a single decision or commitment you made early on with respect to the culture of the team that everything else grew out of?

Ian 9:29

I don't think there's a specific moment, but um, I know there's a specific model that, that we were trying to duplicate and replicate. If you grow up in New York state, everybody's heard of West Genesee High School. Just outside Syracuse, New York. And that is the, that's the program everybody aspires to. It's every coach aspires to and not just New York. People around the country have heard of the West Jenny Drill, and that's named after West Tennessee High School and they're coaching staff. But they are all about culture. They're all about discipline. They're all about attention to detail. And nobody has had a more successful high school program than they have. Nobody has put out more. College players, college, all Americans, college coaches, there's they have this crazy stable of alumni that have gone on and coached at the highest level. And it was all under two coaches. Mike Messer was there for I think, like 42 years. He's the winningest coach in the world. Out of any lacrosse coach. He's got like 800 and I think close to 850 wins. And then his longtime assistant coach, Bob Degan, was there for I think 37 years. And the two of them are. Or just frankly, gods in the coaching world in lacrosse.

Matt 10:38

did you know them personally or you just knew of them?

Ian 10:41

I just, growing up, I just knew of them. And then as a college player I had some West Jenny kids on my team. You're always seeing them on other teams and it's always consistent. They're just very disciplined. They're very solid players. They're very fundamental players. And then I've been lucky enough to get to know them personally over the last maybe 10 or 15 years. Mike Maser has come out here a couple times to do coaching clinics. And then we brought him out to work with Mercer Island at different times. And then Bob Degan and I are, I'd say really good friends now. We talk regularly, and he's come out once or twice a year for the last, I don't know, six, seven years to help us run. Different clinics with our program.

Matt 11:21

Have we ever played them? West Genesee?

Ian 11:23

we played them once. It took me five years to get on their schedule. everybody wanted to play them because of their reputation. And so after pestering them for five years, we finally got a game and we went and played them in 2009. And they, the final score I think was 13 three. We had a good team. We had a very good team actually. it was one of the more polite, butt whippings we've ever taken. They were just very, they coached like their players play just very disciplined very polite. Not flashy, just, they just systematically just broke us down. And and yeah, it was a great learning experience.

Matt 11:55

Was that a wild moment after growing up in New York and hearing about them like you did to have come out to Washington, a nascent lacrosse community to then have your team back in New York on the same field as some

Ian 12:08

Yeah, absolutely. It was the whole trip was a great experience, but the game was obviously the pinnacle. But we also got to that same trip. We went to the Onondaga Reservation, which is one of the original tribes to invent lacrosse. And we went to Alfie Jock's house, who's this famous. He passed away I think a couple years ago. He's a famous wood or traditional wood stick maker and people across the country who have one of his sticks. It's their prize possession. It's my prize possession. I was able to get one from him. But he, he did a whole presentation for the whole team. He brought out all the different types of sticks that he makes from all the different tribes. So that was an amazing moment for all the kids.

Matt 12:47

One of the unique aspects of you as a coach is your emphasis and encouragement on your students all the way through high school to play multiple sports, You've held that line for 25 years. Even a specialization is growing and in some instances has taken over youth sports. Why?

Ian 13:04

I say this every year. it's a selfish motivation because multi-sport athletes make better lacrosse players. you know, there's the obvious things that eliminates repetitive sports injury. You're playing the same sport year round and you see these joint issues that we didn't see growing up. now it's happening all the time because the kids are just working the same joints over and over again. So repetitive sports injury, burnout is a major factor when you play the same sport. Year in and year out your entire life, it's gonna get old. And I used to have, I had a, I owned a lacrosse store in Bellevue for almost 15 years and every new kid that we had come in at about sixth or seventh grade were all coming over from soccer, baseball, and they all said the exact same thing. I've been playing this sport my whole life since I was six year round and I'm done. I just wanna try something new. So burnout's a major factor. And then just overall athleticism. Like you look at all the best athletes in the world, all the superstars, they were all multi-sport athletes. Wayne Gretzky is the best hockey player ever, and he will tell you how much lacrosse did for him to make him a better hockey player. He also played baseball. there's so many examples of that. Jim Brown, was a famous football player for Syracuse and the NFL, and he was an All American lacrosse player in high school and in college at Syracuse. So multi-sport athletes make better athletes, which make better lacrosse players. So yeah, we will continue to push multi-sport athletes.

Matt 14:24

Yeah, I think you and I have talked about, the last nine to Wharton Award's best player in the country in college lacrosse. Every single one of 'em played multiple sports in high school. Um, Explain your philosophy behind having the high school players coach the youth teams and for. K, 1, 2, 3, 4. It's only high school players who coach? What's the philosophy behind that?

Ian 14:48

There's a lot of aspects to it. you take your average 10th, 11th, 12th grader on Mers round and they've been playing lacrosse for, 9, 10, 11 years. one, they just have more experience. Two, there's the whole cyclical part of it, which is every high school kid we have right now was coached by high school kids when they were in elementary school. And they all look forward to when they get into high school and they get to be that coach that they looked up to. And all the little kids, can't wait to come out and watch their coaches play on a Friday night in the high school stadium. And they're teaching the same things at a more simple level that, that the high school staff is teaching. The varsity players go down and teach at a more fundamental level to the first, second, third, and fourth graders. It builds the culture. All those first second graders, they're, they look up to those guys. They'll come to some of our varsity games and they want autographs afterwards, even though they, it's their coach. They know who they're, and they come out there with markers and they want autographs. So yeah, it's just a great part of the program. And the other aspect that I saw later is it makes our high school kids more mature because now they're learning responsibility. Some of them are really getting that same coaching bug that I got. Like they, they lose a game where they don't play as well as They would've liked their guys to play. And all of a sudden they realize, oh, I'm responsible for this group of players. And they put a little, they invest a little more into the team. And as a side product of that, they come back to the varsity and they're just more mature. They're growing up as men.

Matt 16:12

And I should add that when you came, you mentioned there was a seven eight team that was the middle school. One of the things you did was start a five six program, then a three four program, then a little kid K two program. Is that right? Did those go sequentially like that?

Ian 16:26

Yeah. I don't know if it was oh three or oh four, but the league across the state, more and more teams were starting to develop five, six teams because seven eight was getting big. And there were sixth graders that wanted to play. So it was either oh three or four that other programs, including ours, started a fifth, sixth grade team. But it was that same year that. There was no three, four teams in the state. And I looked because we wanted to start a three four team, but we needed people to play and there was nobody else that had three, four teams running it. I went to our next board meeting and I said, we need to start a three four program Nobody wanted to do it. But one mom stepped up and she said, I'll help you. And so that was Dixie Sweated and Dixie and I. Started the three four program and back then it was just two elementary schools. It was Island Park and Lake Ridge were the first two schools and there was only three at the time. West Mercer was the third. There was no Northwood back then. And we, it was co-ed. We allowed because girls had nothing at that level and some of the girls wanted to play. I oversaw it. Dixie helped through the admin and we had. High school boys and high school girls coaching since we had girls and boys in the program. And they played each other and we would have two teams at Island Park and two teams at Lake Ridge. So there was four teams total and we called it the Mercer Island Lacrosse League, the mill. every Saturday or Sunday we'd get together at the middle school and the, on the old sunken field and Island Park Gray would play Lake Ridge Gold or something like that. And we'd mix 'em up. And then the following year. we started the first second grade program, same thing. And I think at that point we added West Mercer, so we now had three schools. And then we had two teams at each based on the color. And so six teams total and three, four and six teams total in first second. it just grew from there. And that's a big part of, it people. Constantly. Oh how come RIS Round has, such big numbers. How come you guys are so good every year? It's not rocket science, it's the youth program. The more you put into the youth program the more long-term success you'll have at the high school program. So I would say the vast majority of what I do as a program director on a year round basis for the last 25 years is focused on the youth more so than the high school. It's all about the youth.

Matt 18:32

And this year we expanded again, I understand. To to a preschool program.

Ian 18:36

Yeah. we started kindergarten a while ago, so we've had kindergartners playing for a long time. And there's, there was interest in preschool this year, so now we, I think we have a couple dozen preschool kids playing. And we currently have and I know these numbers sitting on multiple boards around the state, but we currently have the largest youth program in the state, kindergarten through eighth grade, numbers wise. And we have, so we have our pre-K program. We have our kindergarten program. We have four first second grade teams. We have three third, fourth grade teams. We have two for the sixth grade teams and two seventh, eighth grade teams.

Matt 19:07

as you've evolved. What's something you used to do as a coach that you don't do now?

Ian 19:13

I think when I started out, myself and the other coaches used to let the kids call us by our first names and I was 26 when I started coaching her. And at a certain point, I can't remember when. We decided that we needed to draw that line between friend and coach, and so we changed it. So now it's all, coach this, coach that. I guess there we don't let the kids call us by our first names.

Matt 19:35

last kind of question on your coaching evolution, who would you say has had the biggest influence on how you coach and what specifically did they teach you?

Ian 19:45

Definitely Mike Maser and Bob Degan. They are the architects of what a successful high school program should look like and not just high school. They. Were the original program to, to focus on the youth and build up the, the systems and the chemistry and the culture from youth all the way up to high school. Long before I was born they were doing that. So by far they are, they're the biggest influence on me as a coach.

Matt 20:11

West Genesee has a similar approach to Mercer Island in terms of same club at lower grades that feeds into their high school program. Yeah. When we look back, when you started coaching at Mercer Island 2001, to now 25 years, there's been a lot of pressure to change from parents, from trends from the broader club lacrosse world. Give us something that, despite all that change that you've refused to compromise on and why.

Ian 20:38

It's that expression, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And, as, as humble as possible. We've done everything as a program in this state. We've had more kids play in NCAA college programs. We've had more kids play in CLA college programs. Overall, more kids play D one. We've won more state championships. We've been in more state championships, more all conference players, more all state players than any other program in the last 20 years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Like we, we do a really good job. And we continue to maintain that success, in a down year we lose the state championship, so I, I, just don't see the need to change. I think what we do works really well. And I think the proof is in the statistics.

Matt 21:24

When we look back in these 25 years you've coached I assume it's literally hundreds of players, maybe over a thousand. What's the one thing you most want your players to carry through their adult lives as a result of, of their participation in our club?

Ian 21:41

There's a lot of things. I think the biggest thing, I'll come back to this a lot, is just work ethic. We just teach kids. If you want something, you have to work for it. I don't care who your parents are, I don't care how much money they have In this world, the only way you become a starter, the only way you win a championship is how much work you put into it. Your parents can't buy you a state championship. They can't buy you a spot on this varsity team. So work ethic's, a huge one. I think for, this probably applies to girls too, but for boys, building a strong. Physical foundation in high school. We have a lot of physical fitness testing requirements and we push these kids to, be stronger than they've ever been and run more than they've ever run. And I think, in that 16 to 18 timeframe, when you build that strong foundation, they have that for their, all their twenties, and for the rest of their life. So a strong physical foundation. And then and then just long-term friendships. I'm on a text thread with all my high school buddies that I've known since literally first grade. And we talk every day. We text every day about, just all sorts of random stuff. And all of us play lacrosse together. And I'm 50 and I've known those guys since I was six. And we talk every. I wish that for every player that they have, those strong bonds with the kids they grew up with, and the kids from their town, the kids that they went to, elementary school, middle school, high school with, and stayed friends with, 20, 30 years later.

Matt 23:03

as we think about that what you want, the kids, as you just described, the value of hard work. Is there a specific kid, you don't have to name him but who you can describe whose arc through this program kind of captures what you're trying to build when it comes to taking somebody and instilling something in 'em that, that maybe is something that they didn't expect to get and ends up giving them a great tool for life?

Ian 23:27

Yeah. I mean there's been a lot of kids over the years and a lot of 'em are really good players and, went on and played in college. One of the guys that stands out to me was the class of 2006, and he was a role player and if you ask him today, he is very, he's very down on himself as a player in high school and too much he was a solid role player. But the thing that, that I really respected about him is how much he loved the program and how much he was willing to step back. Because he just wanted that success for all of his friends. It wasn't about him, it was about the team, and that guy still, he's lives on the East coast, super successful guy. And he still follows the program to this day. And if we're on the east coast, he will travel to come watch our games. And he just loves the program. And he is one of those guys that has remained friends with all the guys in his class and they talk regularly and they get together regularly. So I, I love that. I love the guys that really see what the program's about, which is, it's about the team, it's not about the individual.

Matt 24:29

Okay, we're gonna move on to our lightning round Key here is quick answers. Try not to spend too much time thinking. favorite coaching moment that had nothing to do with winning.

Ian 24:39

Ooh. every year we get together with the alumni after the alumni game and all the coaches and all the alumni get together, and that's super rewarding. Every year it gets a little more rewarding, but getting to see all those guys come back and hang out with the coaches. And be on a more social peer level is pretty cool.

Matt 24:56

One specific habit you try to instill in every player

Ian 24:59

work ethic.

Matt 25:01

If you weren't coaching lacrosse, what would you be doing?

Ian 25:04

Something else in lacrosse.

Matt 25:06

What's one thing people would be surprised to learn about you?

Ian 25:11

That I have three sisters.

Matt 25:13

What's something young players worry about that matters less than they think?

Ian 25:18

Social media.

Matt 25:20

What is the thing they don't worry about enough?

Ian 25:22

Ball. Ball.

Matt 25:24

What is the aspect of our club's culture that's most helped your athletes succeed in life after lacrosse?

Ian 25:31

Teamwork.

Matt 25:32

Okay, that's the end of the lightning round. We're gonna go through our parent clarity segment and then wrap it up. What's the most common mistake Parents make today and do they usually know it when they're making it?

Ian 25:45

I don't think they know it. I think every parent just wants to do the best for their kid and some just go a little overboard. There was that expression for a long time, the helicopter parent, and then that turned into the bulldozer parent who clears all obstacles for their kid and. The kid needs obstacles. They need to learn how to overcome these things on their own, and, yeah, some parents just, they wanna do everything for their kid and in regards to sports too, and it's this is something they need to do on their own and they need to figure out, even if that means, why am I not getting as much playing time? Go ask your coach. That relationship is, it's the players and the coaches. Talk to your coach that's going to teach you how to talk to your boss someday. You know when you get outta college and if you never learn how to do those things, have those uncomfortable conversations, are, you're gonna have your parents. Call into work for you when you're an adult. So

Matt 26:36

let's see if you can fine tune that. What would you say is the difference between a parent who's invested in the right way and a parent who's over invested?

Ian 26:45

We have a lot of invested parents. We have a lot of parents that, that really appreciate the program and wanna volunteer. I think the best parents are the ones that. That are just on the sideline. Cheering for everybody, cheering for their kid, cheering for their kids' teammates in a positive way. Not coaching, not directing from the sideline, but just cheering and congratulating them when they're successful. And then if they're not successful, just making sure they're focused on, did you have fun and did you learn something? And, realize the big picture. Even all the way up at the varsity level, this is just a sport, it's just a game. You're only doing this for fun. Professional lacrosse players do not make that much money. So that's not the end goal. The goal is to have fun

Matt 27:28

one thing I've heard you talk about and it resonated with me, is advice to parents when you're on the sideline to cheer reactively instead of proactively. Say a little bit more about what you mean by that.

Ian 27:40

So if a kid has a, a good ground ball, like nice ground ball, nice ground ball, instead of get the ground ball, get the ground ball, congratulate them on the good things that they've done. Don't direct them to do things because no matter how obvious it might be, sometimes you are actually contradicting what the coach is telling them. And you don't know why, because you're on the other side. And the coaches have very specific reasons why they do different things in different situations. And I've had it happen to me where I've had parents contradicting. It's, specific orders to a player on the field and parents are their sideline and tell 'em to do something completely opposite. And and sometimes they listen so yeah just clap for your kid when they do something. Well, Yeah. instead

Matt 28:20

to the direction you give. I imagine that turns out bad for the kid.

Ian 28:23

does. They come off the field very quickly. So

Matt 28:26

at what age do parents sometimes start stressing about college recruiting? And at what age do you think they should actually start paying attention?

Ian 28:35

College coaches are not allowed to even look at your kid until 10th grade. So they're not looking at freshmen or any anywhere below that. They used to, I think maybe 10 years ago there, there was this craze where they were starting to talk to eighth graders, and then finally all the college coaches got together with the NCAA and they put in regulation to prevent that. So now at the highest level, D one, they don't start looking at you until 10th grade. Which meaning fall and spring, and then leading into the summer after your 10th grade year. And then D three and D two don't start looking at you until 11th grade because they need to wait for the D ones to take who they want. So anything before 10th grade, you're just wasting your time. I don't care what anybody's telling you. And there's a lot of people telling you stuff out there. Anybody who tells you that you need to start doing things below 10th grade is trying to make money off you, period. So yeah don't freak out.

Matt 29:26

What do you think has changed the most about parents over the last 25 years that you've been with Mercer on lacrosse?

Ian 29:31

I don't see it as much in our program because I think our program does a good job of kind of educating parents about a lot of the stuff that parents outside of our program freak out about. But I, I think around the greater lacrosse community in Washington and around the greater lacrosse community across the country it's marketing and advertising and for-profits that are using scare tactics. If you don't do this in sixth grade, your kid's never gonna play in college. And it's just. It's just nauseating. It's just not true. And and it, again, it just all comes back to that person's trying to make money off you and they're not genuinely interested in helping develop your kid, or not just within lacrosse, but just as a person. And programs like ours, if you have a kid that's brand new in sixth grade. Brand new, never played before, but he is athletic and he wants to try it. a program like ours would be like, great, we're gonna teach you how to play lacrosse. And we see that, as long as you, you love it and you're invested, that we will help you get there. If you take a for-profit and they look at a sixth grader who's never played before, they can't do anything for them. 'cause they want success right now. 'cause they need to go win some no-name tournament so that they can advertise, look what we did, look what we did, give us more money. And they can't do that with a brand new athlete. And again, a town program, a school program, and an overall program like ours, we see the potential and we see the long-term development. You might not be there now as a sixth grader because you know how many sixth graders are but we see where you can be and we're gonna keep working on you all the way until you get to where you know you wanna be.

Matt 31:05

Okay. Ian, imagine right now that there's a young coach. To who's just like you were in 2001, mid twenties just starting out and he wants to one day build something like what you've built here at Mercer Island Lacrosse. Talk directly to that coach and give him your best advice.

Ian 31:25

it's just hard work. You just, there's no shortcuts. I, myself and Lindsay Gillis the girls head coach here every year, we go to each of the elementary schools on the island and we spend three days at each one of 'em teaching PE class. And so we see kindergarten through fifth grade. Every single kid, she takes all the girls and does a girls clinic. I take all the boys into a boys clinic and it's 12 days and it's a lot of work and But both Lindsay and I, we don't get paid extra for doing that. We, there's no bonus to go and do that. We do that because we know that's how we get in front of the kids. That's how we find athletes that haven't played yet and try to encourage them to come try it. And that's how you do it. You just gotta work hard and get out there and. Get kids to play and or try it. that's how you build the program. You just, it is all about the youth. You gotta build that strong vertical model. That starts all the way down at preschool now. But the. The foundation is kindergarten through eighth grade, and then the high school program's easy after that. 'cause when you have kids that have been playing together their entire lives, you can't replicate that with coaching. You can't. It's the chemistry the camaraderie, the loyalty to each other. They want to win for their friends. They want to play in front of their parents and their school friends. That's not duplicated in other sports environments.

Matt 32:45

Final question, Ian. As you look back at 25 years of sustained excellence on and off the field at Mercer Island Lacrosse, what are you most proud of?

Ian 32:55

The, this wasn't just me, obviously there, there's, like I said, hundreds of parent volunteers that have contributed, hundreds of coaches. Most of our coaches are alumni, guys that grew up in the program. And go off to college and then move back to Seattle and come back to the program and say, I'm back. I wanna help out. Every year I get one or two guys that move back to the Northwest or move back to Mercer Island specifically and come back and wanna help. And it's all because of the community. I've got some dads that like Mark Larson and Dave Anderson and Bob Dunbar and Andy Osmond that have been part of the program forever. Their kids graduated a long time ago, but they stay part of the program because, and they'll say it because of the community. They love being part of the community. And yeah, so I just the relationships between all the alumni and the coaches over the year and the parents, there's a lot of parents that we're still really close with that we're board members are just. Parents of alumni. So the community is the best part of it.

Matt 33:52

All right, Ian, thanks for uh, peering on this podcast. Thanks for everything you've done for Mercer Island lacrosse and for our kids.

Ian 33:58

Thank you so much for doing this.

Matt 34:00

All right. And for the families listening, current, former or those just finding us, what you've heard here is the foundation of what's been built at Mercer Island. Lacrosse, loyalty, tradition, discipline, 25 years of it. It's not just a slogan here, it's the standard and that's the long game.